Thursday, September 29, 2016

The was the 7th & last painting done at the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration in Fairplay, CO earlier this month. This was painted during Saturday morning's "Quick Draw". We could set up any where on Front Street (which is the main street of the old part of Fairplay). The quick draw was from 10 - 12. Our paintings were to be turned in framed by 12:30 & there was an auction at 1:00, with the proceeds going to the food bank.

I did a series of paintings of walls & lanterns of Mexico and saw another painting here. I was drawn to this light and it's reflection. With the limited time, I knew that I wanted to paint something that was familiar. I was happy with the result & happy that this sold in the auction.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

This painting was done at the Beaver Ponds Environmental Education Center just outside of Fairplay, CO during the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration earlier this month. This was the 6th and last painting done during the main 3 days of the event. One of the great things about this plein air event is that the town of Fairplay organizes locations to paint. I'd never been to the Center, nor did I know about it. It was very interesting. Of course, beaver ponds, but trails in the woods, a river, lots of aspen trees. Upon first arriving I decided to walk the circular trail to find a spot to paint. I saw very large hoof prints in the mud. I am very familiar with elk prints, these were so much bigger, I knew they must be a moose. The Center owner said that they frequently have a moose family near by.

After just a short while the shade around my easel disappeared and I was too lazy to walk back to my car to get my umbrella. You want your canvas and palette to be in the shade, so I propped another canvas up to help a bit.

Friday evening is the Event Show in the bank lobby (there's only 1 bank in town.) Every day at 4 pm we turned in 2 framed paintings from that day. Each day at dinner one painting received a "Painting Of The Day" Award. The awards for the 3 day event were given out on Friday night at the reception.

I was thrilled that "Mountain Pond" received an Honorable Mention! And I was also so pleased that the painting sold!

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

This alley is the 5th painting from the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration in Fairplay, CO earlier this month. I had also spotted this location when I was scouting on the first evening in town. I loved the shadows in the alley and the bits of light on the rickety, old fence. The wobbly, old out buildings created fun shapes & shadows.

Again, a little bit of artistic license was used. I found the leaves of the trees to the left of the buildings in the back yard a bit distracting. I preferred the simplicity of the mountains as a back ground. It created one more interesting shape instead of a mess of leaves. I often do a pencil sketch before beginning a painting. This helps me plan the composition. It was as I was scribbling in the leaves in the sketch that I knew they would be distracting.

Monday, September 26, 2016

This tractor is the 4th painting that I did in the recent South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration, Fairplay, CO. I had spotted it the first evening when I was walking up and down the alley off of Front Street in Fairplay. I loved the complementary colors, but there was no light on it in the evening. I decided to head back to it earlier in the day on another day.

I used a bit of artistic license and shortened the body just a bit because I wanted to use a square canvas. One of the challenges of a plein air event is the planning that goes in to it in advance. You have to decide how many and what size canvases to take. The canvases all get stamped on the back before the painting begins. Each canvas has to be framed upon "turn it." So, you have to pack the right size frames, hardware and tools. Additionally, you have to be able to frame a painting quickly, and often from the back of your car.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

This painting was done on the morning of Day 2 of the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration. This day was sort of a free day i.e.: the town of Fairplay didn't have an organized location but made suggestions, or we could paint any where within 30 miles of Fairplay. Hartsel is about 15 miles from Fairplay, and I knew that there's a bison herd there, so I made that my destination. However, just because there's a herd doesn't mean that they'll be close enough to paint. They don't care if they're near the road.

Well, they were sort of close. So I set my plein air gear up right by my car, right by the side of the county road and painted away. The bison appeared to just be standing around, but as they chew, they step, they chew again and step again. After about an hour the bison were pretty far away and no longer near by.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

This piece was done in the afternoon of the first day of the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration. I painted yesterday's posted piece in the morning, then lunch was delivered to us out on the ranch. We're not talking about a simple sandwich, we're talking pulled pork barbecue, cole slaw, fruit, cookies. As I said, this is a GREAT plein air event!

Anyway, as time progressed, obviously the ranch owners purchased modern appliances and kitchen utensils. The old favorites weren't thrown away, they were set up around the barns and out buildings. Every one of them called out to me to become a painting!

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

I recently participated in the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration in Fairplay, CO. This is a wonderful plein air event. The town of Fairplay organizes it so well, providing food every day, arranging painting excursions to private ranches, & having evening gatherings.

This rocker was painted the first morning out on a ranch about 20 minutes from Fairplay. The ranch family has lived there for 4 generations. After walking all around the ranch and being a bit overwhelmed by the views, trees, buildings, etc. I focused in on this old rocker. I could imagine the pleasure the "rockee" would have enjoying his view and resting after a hard days' work.

Monday, September 12, 2016

I have a show hanging at Cheyenne Mountain State Park Visitors Center here in Colorado Springs.

In honor of our 100 year anniversary of the National Park system, the show is of paintings of

county, state and national parks and wild life areas we have visited. These photos show one wall of the show. The paintings are from Bear Creek Park, Colorado Springs; Arches & Canyonlands National Parks, Moab, Utah; Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, CA; Hovenweep National Monument, Colorado; Paint Mines Archeological District, Calhan, CO; Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO; Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah; Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, CO; Big Bend National Park, Texas; as well as a few more local Colorado parks.

As the show is in the Visitors Center, I created a small information sheet about each Park which hangs by each painting. If you're in the Colorado Springs area, please stop by the Visitors Center. The show hangs until the end of October.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

This log is on our property in the mountains. I've looked at it for years, slowly rotting away. I always take my painting supplies when we go up there in case something jumps out at me waiting to be painted. I saw the light, shadow, grasses and decided that this was an interesting painting. I'd also recently looked again at Richard Schmid's book and remembered his painting of a log and was inspired!

Monday, September 5, 2016

I found this old horse trailer when I was painting in Como, CO. Como is about 2 hours west of Colorado Springs in the mountains. Here is some info on Como:

It is believed the town was named by miners from Como, Italy, who worked the coal fields of the area. In 1879, the town became the location of a depot of the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad, which was extended over Kenosha Pass to reach the silver mining areas during the Colorado Silver Boom. Later, the town served as a division point for trains going northward over Boreas Pass and southward toward Garos and over Trout Creek Pass at the western end of South Park. The town has many historic weathered structures, including the roundhouse, hotel, and depot and has the air of a ghost town that is still nevertheless populated, by twenty people. It has a small commercial district consisting of a post office, gallery, hotel. The depot has been renovated with plans to make it an area tourist attraction.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Thursday night was the opening of the PAAC National show at Mary Williams Fine Art in Boulder, CO. I was thrilled to have been juried into the show. It's always fun to go to openings and connect with artist friends who I see only occasionally and to meet new artists.

Thursday evening I met an artist who I've known online for 8 years! That was fun to meet in person and now we're trying to get together to paint. She lives here in Colorado, it's a big state, but about 7 hours from Colorado Springs. You never know what opportunities painting is going to open!

About Me

I am an oil painter from Colorado Springs, Colorado. I retired in May 2008 after 28 years of teaching art and now have more time to pursue my passions of painting and traveling. My life has revolved around my love of art, starting with afternoon art classes while in kindergarten, a degree in art education, sharing my passion with hundreds of students yearly, and painting as often as I can. This journal is a combination of my daily paintings, my studio and plein-air work, my classes and workshops, and pieces from my travels past and present.

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Most of my paintings are for sale either by using a PayPal button or through the Daily PaintWorks Auction. If you are interested in a piece from my early days of blogging, before I used PayPal, please email me and I'll add a button just for you!

My husband and I love to travel. If you do not hear back from me pretty quickly after a purchase, we are on a trip to a location where we don't have immediate access to the internet. It is advised to not always announce on social media that you'll be away from your home for a long period of time, so often I talk about my trips and travels after the fact. Don't fret, I'll get back to you as soon as I can about the purchased painting.